We wrote about the lame PAO mantra. But there’s more. The true art to PAOing is knowing when to, and not to, engage or provide comment.
I’m an aggressive dude. I always err on the side of action. I engage. But sometimes I’m wrong.
Everything is case by case but here’s a few scenarios:
Set the Narrative: Is there a real purpose to get ahead of the story? We don’t get ahead of stories only to ‘get ahead of stories.’ We get ahead of stories to set the narrative: how the story will be framed and portrayed. Engage if we have a chance to define the ‘why’ or set the tone of reporting because doing so will benefit the organization. Engage, on or off the record, to get the story out.
Add Perspective: Your organization did something good or bad and the story is going to be published. You should go on the record to add your organization’s perspective if it’s important and missing. The journalists likely don’t need facts from you on the record. Go on the record if there is a perspective being missed, good or bad. There’s no need to go on the record to say the incident is under investigation or some other sad boilerplate language.
Kill the Cycle: When a bad story is out and spooling, you just want the news cycle to end. The good thing is, you can reduce the news cycle by getting all the facts and comments out early and at once. If the facts trickle out, and the story is juicy enough, each new development will buy you another 12-24 hours in the news. Engage to kill the cycle.
Secret Stuff: This is tricky. Every once in a while you’ll come across a scenario where a journalist is going to divulge classified information or information which is operationally harmful to your organization. We would never confirm classified information to someone not authorized to know it. We do help the journalist understand why publishing the information would be harmful to national security or put troops at risk. In my experience, journalists never knowingly put troops at risk but they follow more practical rules than we do. A journalist likely will publish even though something is labeled classified. A journalist will want to understand, practically, why the information shouldn’t be published. Don’t waste your time and relationships arguing about classification labels, only engage in practical terms.
Be creative: I prefer not to be on the record providing “no comment.” No comment has no purpose. Sad boilerplate language has no purpose. Go on the record with purpose. If a journalist demands a comment or they will add that you had no comment, be creative. There’s a lot you can do here. “Although scenarios like this are to be taken seriously, this particular situation doesn’t deserve your reader’s attention.” Now you’re going to have a conversation – no one strong arms us into providing comment or not.
This post could be longer. There’s a lot to say and media engagement is an art. A relationship based art. Rule 1: Establish a relationship with the media. When to engage, or not, will come from useful conversations you have with your friends.
Now go and do likewise.
Photo by Lance Cpl. Scott Jenkins
